"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera." - Dorothea Lange

Wednesday, July 03, 2013

time marches on for us all; gym teacher honors that notion with flare (and a sense of humor)




"Retired gym teacher Dale Irby posed for his first yearbook photo back in 1973 at Prestonwood Elementary school. The next year, completely by accident, Irby wore the exact same outfit. At first he was horrified to discover the faux pas, but then his wife made a dare: do it again the next year. Before you knew it a 40-year tradition was born; from 1973 to 2013 the teacher, now 63, wore an identical sweater vest and collared shirt for every single yearbook portrait. 

‘I was so embarrassed when I got the school pictures back that second year and realized I had worn the very same thing as the first year,’ says Irby. But once the dare got underway, things changed: ‘After five pictures, it was like: Why stop?’

As you might imagine, age had some effect on the picture day routine. By the end of the tradition, weight gain forced Irby to bring the shirt and sweater with him to school separately, only donning it long enough to take the photo. He admits that, these days, he can only button the shirt if he ‘sucks it in a little.’”

- from the Dallas Morning News


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